The flicker effect
was identified by the famously independent-minded scientist W.
Grey Walter in his best- selling 1953 book The
Living Brain.

Grey Walter – who was soon to become the father of Artificial Intelligence
– discovered that by using high-powered stroboscopes and experimenting
with trigger feedback techniques where the flash was set to fire in synchronization
with the brain’s rhythms, the brain is, “transformed temporarily
to a different sort of brain.” Walter found that time itself could
become lost or disturbed. As he observed of one subject:

“[He had] the sense of having been pushed
sideways in time by flicker. Yesterday was no longer behind, and tomorrow
was no longer ahead..”

Stroboscopic light, or light flashing on the eye between 8 and 13 flashes
per second, induces alpha wave activity in the brain – a state normally
associated with dreaming and creativity. Subjects often report seeing
shapes and colours, some have full-blown hallucinations, others mystical
experiences. Approximately one in 4,000 people will have an epileptic
seizure.

In 1997, ten million Japanese schoolchildren, and some adults, tuned
into the animé cartoon Pokemon
to see a “flashing
explosion with high frequency red and blue flicker stimulation”
hit the screen and persist. What happened next sparked international headlines.
Some viewers went into a trance-like state, as if hypnotized. Others experienced
altered vision and shortness of breath. Some passed out, others had seizures.
Hospitals all over Japan received admissions, though nobody was permanently
damaged.

Clicking the link below will trigger the flicker
effect on your screen. If you are epileptic, or have a tendency to epilepsy,
don’t click. If you’re not sure, avoid holding hot liquids,
small children or animals, as you proceed at your own risk to: